Tired as an old mama lion!

I was looking for anything yawn.jpg to demonstrate how I feel, and this is definately it!

I got an email today from Sandra, checking up on me because I haven't posted in a few days! Oh, I've been SO not posting! Thanks for noticing Sandra! Really, everything is okay, it's just been a crazy week...

A crazy week with *gasp* No personal sewing time in it for me! I've been too tired at night to even pick up a needle....during the day I've been running to the massage clinic, or working on customer quilts here, and other than occassional shots at customer quilts where I am doing a design I really like and can't wait to share......I don't focus my blog on my customer stuff as much as on my own quilting. So when my OWN quilting doesn't happen..neither does the blog entry!

It isn't that I meant to keep everyone in the dark, it was just a pretty mundane but crazy week.

Friday evening I went to Myrtle Beach. DH and his die-hard triathalon buddies were running the Myrtle Beach Half-Marathon (13 miles) on saturday morning. Thursday and Friday were beautiful here weather-wise, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as you go somewhere and need it nice on Saturday, it turns NASTY!!

I had taken my massage table with the hopes of setting up at the finish line at the race, but when I checked the night before, "free" massages were being provided by a massage school (good for them, bad for me) and I wasn't going to stand out there in the cold and wind and massage for free...been there done that! So I stayed in at the friend's house we were staying at and enjoyed the quiet, even if it was blowing outside. I did get out and walked the beach a bit later on Saturday morning. Still wished I had my ear warmers! I do love the beach....even blowing and windy, there is a certain peace to it.

Today I played the organ at church, came home and loaded a customer's raffle quilt for prize poodles. Show poodles. Too cute...the blocks were all compass stars, the round center of each block was a different pic of a poodle going through it's show trials..jumping things, prancing about, too cute! I finished that a bit a go and then laid down for a 'short' nap that lasted 2 1/2 hours! It's now 6pm and I don't know exactly where the day went, but I think it was the nap I needed to get me back on track after a long week.

Bonnie

Valentine's Day Gifts....

I have a gift challenged DH. There is no other way to say it....when they handed out imagination for gifts, or protocol for what does NOT make a good gift, he failed miserably.

One year it was a gas clothes dryer.Yes, we needed a dryer, but why does that make a good Christmas gift for me?? Doesn't the clothes dryer service the whole family?? Something that epitomizes WORK to a woman just does not make a good personal gift. From that point on it was a rule that small appliances, vacuums, cleaning things, even cooking things (no toaster, no sandwhich maker, no fryer)were only okay to give on non-holidays.

This slipped his mind a couple years ago when for my birthday he brought home...unwrapped in a CVS pharmacy bag with the receipt in it no less...one of those "as seen on tv" pasta pots, the kind with holes in the lids for draining. Two pots actually, you got a bonus small one for free :c| cheap aluminium, the first time he used it (I have yet to use it) the paint started coming off the outside. This was NOT a good birthday.

I ranted and raved privately on this birthday, I was so frustrated.....I whined all over a small quilter's email list I am on, and for my birthday, they ALL sent me pasta recipes with the heading of "put THIS in your (*&@#& pasta pot!". It was too hilarious and made a difficult moment much better.

So now....DH is nearly afraid to try anything without getting the okay from me first, and that is hard, because I can't usually think of anything off the top of my head what I want. It takes the suprise out of it, you know?

The same thing happened the other night..."What do you want for Valentine's Day?" *shaking head* (this is after...what? a month of jewelry commercials on tv??)

So yesterday I go into the clinic to help work the front desk and see if I get any walk in massage appts. (I sold a couple gift certificates and those will be my new clients, so this is a good start!) and this little old black man is going door to door offering on-site car detailing while you wait. BINGO! My car has not been detailed since I bought it 3 years ago. I try to keep it clean, but as far as really getting in there and detailing it.....who has time for that?

So I called up DH and said....I know what you are getting me for Valentine's Day....My car detailed! *hehe*

He did a great job too! He spent 4 1/2 hours working on cleaning and detailing my car! Wow. It was SO GREAT. So even though there was no imagination to it on DH's part, I am tickled with my car and the mobile detailing guy. I think it's something I'd recommend to other women out there who don't know what to give their DHs for valentine's or for their birthdays or for father's day etc....who would have thought..car detailing?!

I'm thinking that while sitting at the clinic in between appts is going to be a good time to take some UFO handwork project to work on. Maybe my hexagons...it's a small project? It has set untouched for probably...2 years? I just need to throw it in the car so I'll have it with me....

Bonnie

A Clean Machine is a Happy Machine!

A friend of mine has her blog at Orientation::Quilter (you can see her over there to the right in my sidebar :c)

She has done a great job with a pictoral tutorial on how to clean and oil your machine (hers is a bernina) in between getting your machine serviced at the shop. It's WONDERFUL! I had been doing SOME of these steps, but she shows things that I didn't know about that makes me want to go right over and give my bernie a little clean right away!

Your machine may be a different brand, and parts may be different, so check with your own service place on how you can best keep your machine clean and oiled in between having it serviced.

On the personal front..it's not a very quilty weekend! (And yes, that big customer sampler quilt is getting there, just a bit over one row left) As far as my own stuff goes that is. Today I printed up some business cards and dropped them off at the bike shop that is up the road from the massage clinic. My DH bikes with a team of guys from there, and I put on the back of the card that they can get $10 off their first massage by mentioning Summit Cycles when they call me. It might bring me some business, at least it is worth the effort to try right?

Back to the quilts!
Bonnie

Playing with the scanner down memory lane...

After posting the pics of Jason and Shanon, I decided to see if I can figure out how to make this scanner work! One pic I have on the mirror to my dresser is this pic of Jason when he was 2 1/2..riding his bike. He was such a cutie! Blonde whispy hair...who would have guessed he would turn out so dark colored as he grew :c)

I look at the differences between this pic and the one of him with Shanon, and I see the same eyes...my baby really IS inside this wonderful young man..he's still in there!

It is such a wonder how life goes on, isn't it?

Bonnie

My Eldest Son....

Here are a couple pics....my eldest son Jason is 22, and lives in Arlington TX where he works at a Johnny Carino's restaurant running the kitchen staff. I'm so proud of him. It wasn't easy going through HIS teenage years either, but as I see the wonderful young man he has grown into, I keep holding my heart and hoping that the younger one will find his way too!

Since Jason lives in TX, and we are in SC, we don't see each other very often, but the phone calls are frequent. I think that was the best thing....when we moved here due to a job transfer, Jason was already on his own and living with some friends sharing an apartment. He learned quickly what it was like not to have us so close, and communication became very important.

He called this week, and he and his girlfriend Shanon are coming for a visit! They will be here March 14th and stay about 4 days. I am a nervous mother! He is been dating Shanon seriously for a couple years now, and I've never met her in person! I've talked to her on the phone several times, and she is really a sweetheart, but this is the first time as a mother that I am meeting the serious girlfriend!

I definately plan on getting some family portraits taken while they are here. We haven't done that in years either. It's time. It's time to put it down on canvas for posterity!

It's a rainy wet day here in the south east. Snow could be coming, but probably more to the higher upper country of SC, not so much near us, though ice is a threat. Today I plan to work some more on the customer's sampler, and yes I did get to half way yesterday! Then there is the tax stuff looming....

I went last night and bought a new hp printer/copier/scanner/fax machine from Sam's club. I don't know how to work it all yet! I have wanted a scanner, but I haven't had time to learn all the ins and outs of it yet. We got it networked so we can also print from the laptop downstairs that is wireless. It's very odd to be up here typing away at the upstairs computer and all of a sudden have the printer go off next to me! *LOL*

If I can get as much done as I want to on the customer quilt today..I plan on some more hand quilting on the amish crazy bars tonight. I didn't touch that last night at all, by night fall I was just tired enough to crawl into bed, watch a couple episodes of something and fell asleep in the middle of whatever...sometimes it feels good to just do that!

Crazy Amish Bars....

I started the quilting while watching CSI last night. Of all the CSIs out there, I really like the Las Vegas one the best. The other two (NY and Miami) just have charactors that I can't get into. I try. But sometimes if a charactor is too weird, I just can't.....as is the guy who plays on the Miami one. Horatio? He just gives me the creeps! *LOL*

It was a chilly night, perfect for a fire in the fireplace....and away I went on quilting the amish crazy bars. I got 4 blocks and part of the sashing done. I'm doing the blocks by quilting whatever wherever. The sashings are getting a twisted rope/cable. Pain in the butt to quilt though, it isn't continuous! And you either have to end your thread with every 'S' curve, or carry it under, about two needle lengths to where the next one starts, and I'm not sure how I feel about carrying the thread through that length. Any ideas on that?

I need to be a good girl today and focus on this large customer quilt that is in the machine. It's a sampler in brights with alot of white open area, and I'm doing a fancy curling amish feather design in there, and tiny micro stippling behind. If there is ever a terrible time for tennis elbow/lateral epicondylitis to flare up..it is when doing tiny micro stippling! The pic shows part of the top border..I've done the microstippling on the top of the plumes, I just need to come back the other direction and do the bottom..then I can advance and actually get started on the BLOCKS! I'd like to see this quilt 1/2 done today. That's my goal...I'll let you know if I got there or not!

I like jazz music and old standards...the MP3 player has been really fun because I have all my old standards set on 'random play'...what fun to listen to these oldies, singing along and quilting away!

Bonnie

Shoo Fly, Shoo!

I finished the binding and hanging sleeve on the shoo flies quilt last night! hoorayyyyy!! I really like how it turned out.

I hand quilted it with brown thread, which looked really vintage wtih it. I like the thread color. However, the quilting isn't that easy to see unless you side light the thing, so that is what I had to do with the pics..

Today I met with a couple of the other therapists at the place I am going into. I think it is going to be great! I paid my rent for the second half of feb, and I'll officially start accepting clients there on the 15th of Feb. I was given a "key to the establishment". My own key!

My friend Lori and I drove down town so she could show me where to apply for a business license and go to the zoning thing to have the fire marshall come out and check my space and give it the a-okay. I'm in! I'm in business! I think it is going to be great to balance out the quilting. Lori and I ran around and had lunch and visited...and then this afternoon she has 2 clients back to back. She said it was the perfect schedule, and it sure sounds like it to me. I can quilt the mornings, and have clients in the afternoons, or the other way around, have clients in the mornings, and quilt in the afternoons. It's going to give me the "out of the house" time that I need to make me really love the time when I can just be here and quilt....

The next quilt I am starting to quilt on is one of the amishy ones that I basted the last basting-go-round. It sure is nice to have them just ready to be picked up and worked on. This one is a strippy quilt, and I think I'm going to quilt cables in the plain strippies between the pieced sections. feathers in the outer border are calling to me. I love how amish solids look once the stitches are taken, it just sculpts the quilt!

Bonnie

Much More Than Maverick!

I got an email from one of our blog watchers..(Hi Beverly!) and she directed me to this quilt on ebay!

All I can say (with my tongue hanging out of my mouth!!) is I wish there were more pictures, better pictures...I'd love to see this one up close! It looks SO GREAT from what I can see...which isn't much.

Too much fun to look at, isn't it? I wonder what this person was thinking and how this quilt came about....

Bonnie

Group Pic!

Someone sent me an email this morning with this pic attached..this is all of us on the front steps of the retreat house....we flagged down some workers who were working on a house across the street to take a pic.. :c) And you can't hardly see me, I'm in the way back row :cÞ

Today at least has the sun shining here! Much much better than the windy icy rain from yesterday! I'm back into the real world, fighting with breaking threads and ornery tension on the back of a customer's quilt. What a rude awakening after having so much fun this weekend! *LOL*

Bonnie

Back from retreat!

I'm back from retreat in Hilton Head. Weather was CRAPPY!!! Cold and rainy and too blowy to even want to be on the beach, even though the beach was across the street, just behind the row of houses. Beautiful from inside, but you just didn't want to be out there. Bummer. I love going to Hilton Head!

I drove home this morning, raining all the way...just spitty light stuff, it wasn't coming down very hard. Its about 2 1/2 hours drive, so I am listening to a book on CD, Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. So far I like it as much as DaVinci Code......I'm about 3 CD's into it.

The Jinny Beyer convention was pretty tame this year. I didn't find much to buy, except one piece of a striped backing that I really liked (and needed). I took what was left on the bolt..6 yards. We also went to the quilt shop in town and all I found that I needed was 2 brown FQ's, a shirting FQ, and a couple stencils that I liked. Pretty tame spending huh? The theme was log cabin quilts, and there were a few antique ones that I really liked at the show, so these are pics of those.



The house we stayed at was lovely. There were 15 of us in this one HUGE beach house. I was lucky....I brought an airmattress and electric blanket and my own bedding, and I made my room in the master bedroom closet (which was huge, and directly connected to the even huge-er (is that a word?) master bath! It was too funny, there were jokes about me "coming out of the closet" all weekend :c)

Click Here to view house!

Unfortuneately, there is NOT a view of my wonderful master bedroom closet..*hehe* But there IS a pic of theMaster Bath Massge Room!

I set up our "Hilton Head Retreat Massage" room in the master bath. It was great...sky lights, away from the noise....the table was set up in the middle of the bathroom and I could walk around it and have room to spare. It was perfect. I did 4 massages for pay during the weekend so I feel pretty official. :c)

This is a pic of MYRTLE. Myrtle is our mascot, and come sometime after 5pm....I lost my bra, and myrtle was discovered wearing it..*hehe* Myrtle was also our menu hostess..the menu for each meal was taped to myrtle so guests would know what was on the menu for the evening....

I did work on the brown and pink Dear Jane.....I finished row "K" and now have row "L" and "M" to finish. I got a couple blocks done in row "L"...but petered out on it. I spent some evening time hand quilting on my shooflies....one more evening and I should be ready for the binding. there is just a bit over one fan left to quilt! It is getting close!

I stopped on the way home from Hilton Head in Columbia to check out the massage clinic where I hope to be sharing room rent with my friend Lori. The place looks awesome! She has the room set up really nice, and we get along so well I know it will be great to work with her, or is it work "around" her, since we will be sharing room rent and when one of us is there, the other one won't be! I tracked the mileage on the way home from the clinic to my house and it's about 22 miles. I guess that is about average for most people who commute, and I really don't mind the drive. (especially with good books on CD in the car!) I'll go in later this week and meet with the other therapists there.

My state license came in the mail while I was gone. I am officialy SC # 4623! Easy to remember since 23 is half of 46 ;) I need to get my diploma and my licence, etc framed to hang on the wall of my massage room :c)

Would you believe I have a guild meeting tonight and I have to be there? I've got to leave in less than an hour and I am SO pooped!

Leaving for retreat!

I'm just about packed! I've got some last minute things to do, but I'll be leaving in about an hour so I wanted to make one more post before I go.

A customer just left from picking up her quilt, and the story behind this quilt is kind of neat!

Carol was given 15 of these dresden plate blocks from the 1930's. (I believe they had belonged to the great-aunt of the person that gave them to her, they had been passed down.) Some of them were completed, some of them still had the button hole stitch to be done on them, and some of them were in partial assembly. She finished what she could, but she was in dire need of ideas on what to do with 15 blocks! Certain settings just wouldn't work and she wanted something that would really be accurate for the time period.

One day while she was bringing me another quilt to quilt for her, she brought her blocks, explained the situation, and I knew I had just the answer! I had a collection of authentic (not repros) 30's fabrics that she could use to make ONE MORE BLOCK and then set them the traditional way she wanted. We were even able to match that solid orangey red for the center of the block! She found the perfect sashing fabric, and then tied it all together clear to the edge by bordering it with muslin that matched the blocks. It turned out just wonderful! I quilted feather sprays in the corners of the blocks, surrounded by tiny stippling to really bring them out. The plate blades are outline quilted, with another feather flower quilted in the red centers of the block.

I'm usually not in love with 30's prints and 30's quilts...but this one has maverick issues! Not all the blocks have the same number of blades! they are different widths, some fat, and some skinnier, I think they fudged with them to get them flat enough to lie down instead of being volcanoes..*LOL* The plates are NOT centered in the blocks, and they are all rotated a bit different which made putting the feather plumes in the corners of the blocks a bit of a challenge. Each feather plume is a bit different too, because I was just quilting to fill up the space. And I like it! It gives the ey e something different to look at and the dresden plates (which is not one of my fave patterns either...repetition wise) seem to be spinning and doing their own thing with their own personalities. the centers of the plates are not completely round! some are egg shaped. It was all these wonderful inconsistencies that made this a fun quilt to quilt on!

Not to mention that I LOVE the look of quilting on plain muslin (and the solid red for that matter) Nothing is as timeless as that.it shows the quilting SO well! little white on white prints that are out now just don't have that same look or feel. I don't know why they are so popular with quilters! Give me plain old muslin any day, it is wonderful to quilt and fits the quilting 'genre' that I like most! (and second comes shirtings if it has to be a print at all :c)

Have a great weekend everyone! I'll be back on monday!

Bonnie

Not much quilting-4-me going on!

But that is going to change...TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is my Hilton Head Retreat with the Carolina Pines Quilters. It's the same weekend/same place as the Jinny Beyer Convention, which makes it fun. There is a free quilt show of Jinny's quilts along with other guest artists. Usually there have been some really wonderful antique quilts at the show too. It's small, but great for getting away from the sewing machine for an hour or two. There is also a vendor's shop, and it's alot of fun to rummage through. Sometimes the sale fabrics are pretty good. Last year I thought I was so brilliant in using birthday money to buy a TJ Lane silver thimble.....which I lost. :c( No more 'spensive thimbles for THIS lady! Not unless I can have it physically attached to my body! And don't tell me I need a cage or a necklace...I hate those. I tried a chatalaine and all that crap around my neck drove me crazy. So..I'm back to cheapy thimbles by the dozen :c)

I'm trying to really gear myself up for this retreat! But so far on the "wanting to sew" scale...it is just not happening. *LOL* WHY?! Because. I am working on that (*@#$(*& Brown and pink DJ thing. I told myself after the last retreat that if I were to sew one block a day, I'd be able to get another row done before this retreat. Did I? Nope. I've done four..count them....F-O-U-R measly blocks. In three weeks! Granted, I have been cramming for taking my boards, and all this other crap going on with Jeff that is making it impossible for me to want to focus on eensy teensy precise (why did I think precise was ever fun?) pieces. But I will persevere...I might only finish ONE ROW at retreat, but part of me wants to finish it, just so I can handquilt fans all over the whole thing and put the DJ perfection world into coronary *hehe* The quilting part will be FUN!

I'm in the midst of plodding through the last row of dresden plates on a customer's quilt. I need to finish it today so I can go tomorrow with a clear conscience. Feathers in the corners of the blocks and the center circle, and tiny microstippling around everything. And it's a huge quilt. I can make it. I can quilt the last row of blocks.....I will conquer!!

I am also going to be the 'resident massage therapist' at the retreat. I'm taking my table and my gear and offering a retreat special price....if it goes well, maybe I WON'T finish that dang row K of the brown and pink DJ quilt *hehehe*

Bonnie

Massage Wear....

I'm doing a search for "massage therapist" logo shirts....and I found this one, I had to post it to show Tonya! *hehehe*

Bonnie

Happy February!

A while back, I had a pic with part of this valentine's table topper peeking out. Some of you asked to see it. I decided to wait until it was closer to valentine's day so I could post something valentine-y :c)

This quilt was made from a swap of 6" valentine themed blocks I did with an online quiltlist. It's a pretty tame sampler, but I really like how it turned out, and it was a good place for me to use up the last of (hooray!) that red with white hearts print left from my early 1980's quilting days. Those little dot hearts came in EVERY color..remember them? I think they are all about gone now, though sometimes they still show up in the string bin and smaller scrap bits.

I've done it. I've delivered my first resume and coverletter to a spa that is opening up in the new Gold's Gym complex near me. I had dropped by there yesterday just to see when they would be open. The owner happened to be there, and I talked to him a minute and he said to drop a resume by. So guess what I spent the best part of yesterday afternoon composing? Thank heaven for templates in word/works that have everything in the right format and you just have to fill in the blanks. Still...it was kind of intimidating to me. I haven't worked for anyone else in 16 years. Yes, I've had my own home based businesses, but they are in an area that doesn't apply for the massage position that I am looking for. So there is the worry that I still don't have enough "massage" experience to be considered for the job, but heck, I'm trying right? And now that the cover letter and resume are composed....I can alter the cover letter to suit other places I can apply to, be it a chiropractic office or whatever, and that weight of having to compose them is off my shoulders. The only thing left is business cards, but I need my license # on them and I haven't received my packet from the state yet. That should come in the next week or so.

Things here at home are still at a stand off. Son is avoiding me, and I'm staying out of his way. I've tried so hard to open up communication, talk about school, about friends, about whatever, and he refuses to let me in or to participate so I'm throwing in the flag for right now. He'll talk when he's ready to talk, and no amount of my trying to draw him out is going to work at this point.

Thank heavens for the retreat on friday! I'M SO READY!!

Bonnie

Too Funny!!

First off, I am Not a mall shopper....I refer to the mall as the MAUL because I just can't stand the parking and the crowds of people, and heck....two of my favorite things are NOT there....no fabric, and no thrift shops! But I still got a great chuckle out of this picture, notice that the female completely by-passes GAP which is what she went for in the first place!

I do think I am more like the male shopper than the female, and the shopping I did on saturday was rare for me...and included only fabric and thrift shops :c)

Things in Quiltville are rather hairy right now. Dear Son Jeff exchanged words with a teacher yesterday and was removed from campus for the day. Because he has a definate problem with keeping his mouth shut, I put his phone on restriction. I thought this was a good idea at first, I was patting myself on the back for the brilliant connection between communicaton (or keeping your mouth shut FROM communication when you shouldn't talk back) and the use of the cell phone priviledges.

Son is NOT happy. I didnt' expect him to be, but I thought that telling him that turning it back on was dependant upon cooperation, improvement in his attitude towards his parents and others in authority over him, and showing us that he is mature enough to have the priviledge of a cell phone. I mean, if it were me, I would have shaped up right away right?

Well this morning things are worse. One more crappy attitude from him and it will be off for 2 weeks instead of one!

And he is trying to have it backfire from here by telling me that I'll just have to wonder where he is because I can't reach him because it is MY FAULT that I turned off the cell phone. Phooooey. People lived without cell phones for centuries..do I really think this is a crisis he cant live with?

He has an appt with his counselor today at 5:30. I told him to be home by 5 so we can get there in time, and he said.....maybe, maybe not, and left. I am trying so hard not to let him push my buttons! We tell him all the time, not to let people push his buttons and flap his mouth.....that always gets him in trouble, and now it is my turn to follow my own advice and not let it get to me.

It's just so hard when you think what you do will make a kid WANT to try harder, but backfires and makes them try less instead. I wish I could run away to Lucy's TODAY!!

And I'm cleaning the house furiously because that is one thing that IS under my control!

Bonnie

Monday Monday....

I didn't get ANY stitching done yesterday at all! Other than finishing the last row of fans on this quilt, that is, and it isn't my quilt!

This quilt belongs to a gal in my North Augusta guild. She passed it off to me when we were at quilt retreat a couple weeks ago. I love the colors, and the value play in this quilt! She saw the one I had up at retreat that had the fans on it, so that is what she wanted for this quilt too, and I think it was perfect, because the quilt has so much going on.....not much of anything was going to show regardless! And the fans made it interesting, and economical too, since she didn't have to pay for heirloom style quilting to have her quilt look good.

I had to really really side light the quilt and take the pic with the flash OFF to even get the fan quilting to show, that's how blended this quilt is. But I love it. I love the pattern. Peaky-spikey stars are GREAT.

Today I need to start a commitment I made to myself. My schedule has been SO screwy all through the past year+ because of school, studying, other commitments etc. I have really fallen off the wagon as far as my own fitness and health goes, and it's time to take care of ME. I have a membership at the YMCA. It's time for me to get back into my yoga classes and pilates classes and increase my energy and stamina. I can't take care of everyone else unless I take care of myself first. And this goes for all the effort and strength and stamina that it will take me to do massage after massage after massage a day. So I am going to start today. Pilates at 10:30. The big problem had been the time frame, because by the time I get out of there the day is 1/2 over, but that's just something I'm going to have to deal with!

Bonnie

Gwen has moved :c) (and sympathy stuff)

I got the coolest email! Get this:

"Hi,

I maintain Gwen's website and am moving it from http://geocities.com/gwenmarston

You may want to change your html to reflect the change. Her website
can now be reached through

Thank you for having the link to her website. I just looked at the
statistics and found that 9.06% are referred from your URL page."

It's not as cool as an email from Gwen herself, but how neat to have over 10% of her traffic coming from my links to her :cD As of yesterday the page wasn't functional yet, but it is up and running today. I'm really glad she claimed her own domain with her name. Makes it easier to remember than the geocities one.

On a sad note:

My dear friend's mother passed away last sunday from pancreatic cancer. I just found out this morning (I had wondered when I hadn't heard or recieved any emails in over 2 weeksand I had this gut feeling....you know how those are?) All week long it nagged me...I spent a long time plowing through sympathy cards to send this afternoon, each one made me cry, and sounded so trite. How can you really comfort a far away friend when you can't get there just to be able to wrap your arms around them? Saying "I'm so sorry for your loss" just doesn't cut it. Especially via email. :c( Times like this when there are too many miles in between are just too hard. But never the less, my thoughts are with James, Diane, and Dale during their time of sorrow for the loss of their mother. And for their father too, who feels so lost. I wish there was something I could do from here.

Bonnie

Shopping Day!

I spent yesterday running to Joann's....I was out of king sized hobbs 80/20 battings, and I didn't want to put together a whole wholesale order (which would be 4 cases or rolls) and Joann's had them 1/2 off...and I didn't have to pay the shipping. So that was good.

I fell off the wagon a bit on my "no fabric buying" mantra. They had 60% the clearance stuff. I found a really nice plaid there, it was 60% off $1.00 a yard. *LOL* how can I pass up a quilt back or something for 40 cents a yard?

And I had a 40% off coupon. There was a black 1800's repro print that I used that on. Took the last 3 yards off the bolt. Black prints, nice black prints that work well with the style I like, are hard to find. (Can you tell I'm rationalizing??)

Sewing baskets were on sale too...I got this darling looking pot-bellied oriental one, blue/gold silk looking brocade type fabric, with a tassle :c) It has a notions tray that fits inside and lifts out to leave a good sized place for storing more stuff. I admit it. I'm a container junky and that goes for anything that resembles (or is) a sewing basket!

Then I headed to the Goodwill, because it was in the same plaza. I've banned myself from there from time to time too, it's probably been 6 months or more since I've gone thirft shop hunting. I hit the jackpot today. 3 great plaid men's shirts 1/2 off....GREAT colors, and the feel of the fabric is wonderful, not as bulky as the homespun plaids we feel in the store off the bolt. I found a pair of pants, a couple skirts, 2 pairs of cute shoes, a hand bag (monogrammed just for me with a B on it!), a jumper dress, and a casserole dish with a lid to it. Oops, make that 2 plaid shirts, Jeff just claimed one for his own!


I think I better ban myself from there again! But I really had a good time, and it was fun to be out toodling around. This morning it started raining, so it looks like it is going to be a good day to stay in and stitch. We rented part of the first season of 24 because DH wants to start it from the beginning, so I guess I'll be working more on "shoo flies" while we catch up on that show. I tell ya, it might be better just to buy it season by season at Sam's Club. We could get the first 4 episodes on DVD last night at blockbuster, but then episodes 5-9 were gone, and I think the one after that, and then you could get 14 to 18 or something. The wonders of DVD rental!

Bonnie

A Wish For All The Difficult People We Encounter...

*hehehehehhe* This pic was sent to me by my Sister, Mary. It just cracked me up royal and came at a good time.

I belong to this one email list, and the list owner (names of list and owner are left out to protect their identity!) has gone postal and is unsubscribing people left and right for posting off topic...I mean, I know how hard it is to keep a list on topic, and there is going to be SOME off topic stuff, but the football topic went way out there, and people talking about all their medical stuff, and then I made the post about passing my exam...which was okay...but everyone on the list was replying to the WHOLE list, and it clogged up the list, and I feel kinda 'chafed' about it all...So far I haven't been kicked off, because I haven't replied to the replies!

Part of me understands how the list traffic can be on a list of 1600+ people (not all post, most lurk) but at the same time the list moderator has an option to set the email preferences to REPLY TO SENDER instead of sending each reply TO THE WHOLE LIST and she hasn't done that. Replying to any list email goes directly back to the whole list.

So if you are going to choose the whole list route, you are asking for people to just reply to the whole list without thinking. Much could be solved if the reply preferences were changed. I mean, people can still click the REPLY TO ALL button if they WANT the reply to go to all? It's alot easier than trying to paste someone's email address in over a list address and making sure it is going to one person instead of all.....this kind of thing is just the trigger to prove that people are idiots. "Reply To All Automatically" means..."open mouth, insert foot!"

So all the while I'm feeling bad because people who are replying to me about the massage exam (off topic) are replying to the WHOLE LIST and I'm sorry if they are getting kicked off.......but what can I do about it if they can't reply to me instead of the whole list?

You know what? I really enjoy being part of this SMALL community...because we CAN talk off topic, and if you are sick, or your loved ones are hurting, or something 'off topic' is going on in your life, I want to know about it. Life is more than just 'quilt topics' only! (*gasp* Did I really say that!?)

Time to go play with more fabric...

Bonnie

Bonnie Hunter, LMT

I did it! I passed!

Oh my HECK. This was the hardest test I hope I will ever have to face in my life, and so many questions had me going HUH!?? I guess there is no way to cover everything in school, and I had SO many questions on oriental modalities. I'm glad I did the studying I did, but so many still had me going...WHAT? Like this one:

The practice of Moxibustion is used for correcting:
1. excess yang
2. excess yin
3. excess moisture
4. excess dryness

We learned what moxibustion is.....they use an herb called mugwart and light it on your skin. I know this much. But they never told us if it was for any of the above! I guess I better find out....some of this stuff just blew me away..*LOL*

I don't find out which ones I missed. They just list the chapters and if you passed each chapter with a high/medium/low. I scored high in everything, but you know....some of those questions just need ANSWERS in my mind! (not like I'm ever going to be performing moxibustion on anyone in the near future...at all!)

I walked out of there with a skip in my step and a smile on my face....and went over to the school to get a copy of my diploma notarized so that I could go back to the LLR (licensure) building to get my state license. Filled out a form, plopped out $150.00 and voila! I should have that license in 2 weeks.

After that I went to my favorite little whole in the wall chinese place and had a $3.50 lunch special to celebrate. I wanted really bad to ask the chinese guy if HE knew the answer to the moxibustion question..*hehe* But I didn't.

So I'm home again. What to do to celebrate? Play with fabric I guess! Weeee!

Don't spose anyone would be interested in a massage? :cD
Bonnie

It's Exam Day!

Today I take the national certification boards for massage therapy and body work.

My exam is at high noon. Makes it sound like the show down between two gun slingers outside the saloon! My weapon? Memory cells. And I hope they will remember all I've crammed in there over the past 14 months!

I think I've studied all I can, though I will go back through the CD tutorial I have this morning, just to get me in the mood. :c)

The next time you hear from me, hopefully I'll be Bonnie Hunter, LMT!

This pic is a little find I found in an antique mall here in SC.


I just fell in love with this poor little guy, though the price was out of my range. What I found interesting is that though it looks like it is sashed with wide strips, that is actually part of the block! It's broken dishes in a 9 patch formation that makes the block. 5 broken dishes blocks, and 4 plain red (or blue, or that other melon color that has faded from what it once was)sewn together to make the 9 patch, and then the 9 patches are joined side by side to make the quilt top.


The fabrics in it are so fun, and the stitches are very child-like. So I'm wondering if this was made by a young girl as she learned to sew? Definately a scrap quilt from the scrap bag. It was quilted in a crosshatch with white quilting thread. I love how vibrant the reds and the yellows still are in it!


Bonnie

Happy Birthday Jeff...

My baby is 16 today!

Jeff's counselor appt was last night. So far so good again. This week, now that he is officially 16 as of today, he wants to start looking for a job. HOORAY. Nothing like real life's lessons to teach a kid what is what. I don't even mind driving him everywhere to get apps, or to drop him off and pick him up. It's time we can use to talk in the car, you know?

This morning two of his friends came over, plus one spent the night last night since they have a late start on wednesdays. The friends came in and sang happy birthday to Jeff because he was still in bed asleep. It was so funny to watch him wake up to that racket! Teenage boys sound particularily interesting when singing silly songs like Happy Birthday in their 16 year old early morning voices :c)

I made waffles and canteloupe for everyone for breakfast...and off they went to school. It was a very good morning! (so far)

This is a pic of Jeff when we still lived in Idaho, it's the earliest digital pic I have of him. I think he was about 7. Jeff is the tall one on the right, the other kid was a neighbor, and it was so long ago I don't remember his name...My how time flies!

I'm done taking the antibiotics finally. This stuff (clindamycin??) is AWFUL! It makes your stomach feel like the worst case of heart burn you have EVER had...worse than when I was pregnant. And the pill you take before you go to bed is the worst because you just lay there.. but now I'm done. I'm not taking anymore of this stuff..EVER!

This pic is also for Tracey, it's a pic of an antique trapundtoed feathered star I found in Houston. The hand quilting was AMAZING! I just wish I could have gotten closer to get better shots, but that clear tape across the exibit keeps you from doing so, I wonder why? :c)

I really thought it was interesting to put the inner blue border just on two sides. Yep Yep....I sure love unexpected things!

Sun is shining in SC...looks like a good day!
Bonnie

Logs for Tracey and Finn

Tracey was posting about her 3" log cabins...I'm not sure what Finn's size is, I didn't check...but it made me want to dig out this old UFO I was doing from my smallest smallest saved pieces...Tracey..I'm still working on however many thousand blocks I need for these! And ohhhh dear, they've been on the back burner for a long time too! I'm thinking maybe if I could do the one block a day with you, I can get this done?? This layout shows 252 blocks....auuughhh!

The thing weighs a ton, and yes the blocks are 3" too. I tried 2", but the fabric prints because indistinguishable and the whole thing was seam allowance thickness...


One block, at least with this size, you can still tell what the fabrics are....

I think we all are playing in the loonie bin! *LOL*

Tooth is better, I celebrated by chewing gum!! But that made my TMJ sore on that side, probably from having my mouth propped open for so long :c)

I had lunch with a friend today....she drove me to the place I have to go to take my test on thursday, so I know where I'm going and won't get lost in a panic :c) NICE, huh?? She took her test and got her license about 6 months ago. If she can make it, so can I!

I worked on the customer quilt I started last friday before the tooth got bad over the weekend. I'm past 1/2 way on it now....the string quilt with the chalkboard grey 1/2 blocks in the barn raising? I hope to finish it tomorrow.

Jeff had an appt with the counsellor this afternoon. Good appt! I really like this guy. Since Jeff's birthday is tomorrow we went out to dinner tonight all 3 of us...Jeff's fave place is a buffet place called Fire Mountain. I got by with a salad and a piece of fish and a roll. I think I was still full from lunch (that was better, we went mexican!) so I don't feel so guilty about eatting out twice.

While at the counsellors with Jeff, I studied in the lobby while he was in his session. I had to memorize a star chart for the chinese five elements and the organ system meridians that go with each element and certain charactoristics of each. Because I can memorize the chart, and write it by memory, I'll be able to write it down when I begin my exam, and then use it as a reference. I hope it will help when the test has questions on oriental modalities. Not anything I'll ever use I'm sure in my practice, but it's those things you have to know just to pass the exam!

I'm still hand quilting on the Shoo Fly quilt. I've done nearly two rows of fans around working from the outside in towards the middle.....I'm going to pop into Jammies right now and then work on that a bit more again tonight. I've had all the studying and cramming today that I can take.

Bonnie

Two for Less-Than-The-Price-Of-One Birthday Special!

I had a heck of a day today. This tooth bothered me so much over the weekend that I called the endodontist this morning and said....I can't WAIT until Feb 9th for you to fix it, can you fix it NOW?! And I had my appt at 3:45.

After they had done the root canal, (don't you just love to see and smell smoke and feel debris flying when they drill your tooth apart?) they took xrays to check it....then the doc came back in with the xray and said...I think we have a problem...

Turns out he did the root canal on the wrong molar! He did the one BEHIND it, instead! He felt so bad....(I at this time was feeling no pain, cuz I was numb up the whole side of my face and tongue. Believe me....numb is my friend! It's the best I've felt in over a week!) that he isn't going to charge me for the wrong one....and is only going to claim what the insurance will cover on the RIGHT one, which he proceeded to do after we discovered that the one I went in for was still un-root-canaled.

I guess I got the birthday two-for-less-than-the-price-of-one special since today is my birthday! Really this is a good thing because they were going to charge me 1/2 of the entire fee until insurance paid, which was over $400 on an $800+ root canal. UP FRONT. (then they would reimburse me what was left over who knows how much further down the road) Now they are just going to file, and whatever they get they get....no extra 20% from me, no "up and above what insurance pays is your responsibility" from me. (I'm still trying to convince myself this is a good thing right? Who else would go through two root canals so they didn't have to fork out $400 up front?)

He is also going to pay for the filling that needs to go on the one tooth (that already has a crown..the one that should have been fixed first) and a crown for the wrong molar that got root-canaled.

I'm still feeling no pain, and I really think the whole thing is funny. I'm not going to talk him bad to anyone, it's nice to know that normal human things happen to normal human people....even dentists. That tooth was probably going to need a root canal at some point in the future anyway...right?

Bonnie

Happy Root Canal To Me!!!

Like the child who "all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth..." All I want for my brithday today is to have this tooth fixed! I called the dentist office and they can 'squeeze' me in at 3:45. HOORAY! I think they took pity on me, or pity on my family for having to live with me. :c)

This will also work out great because my friend Sandi and I wanted to make a plan today to hop over to Joann's while so much stuff was still on sale. I need some king size hobbs batting, and while it is 1/2 off, it's cheaper than I can get it wholesale plus shipping. So I'm going to buy 6 of them and stash them back. Not sure what else is on sale, but when Sharon showed her great organization boxes for her sunroom studio, those really caught my eye too so I'm going to check those out.

Not a whole lot of quilting got done this weekend, mostly because the pain meds make me sea sick. Bad enough that I am not taking them today...I have to DRIVE! I've gone back to the ibuprophen, as well as still on the antibiotic. I hope it will see me through until after the proceedure. I did some hand quilting, and some swap block piecing...but I really didn't spend much time behind a needle at all this weekend.


Here is some more eye candy for you. This is a pic of an antique pineapple, also from houston. I just loved the fabrics in it! This must have been "the year of the cheddar" when I was taking photos that year, they all seem to have cheddar in them somewhere..*LOL* It was just LOVELY.

Bonnie