SPRING!

This is what spring looks like in March in South Carolina! The lawns are still hibernating, but the trees are bursting out in popcorn all over! It is so pretty when you drive through town, even the busy business streets, the trees are all covered in white.

Next as the trees begin to get their leaves, the dogwoods will bloom, and the wysteria will cover everything and just drip with clusters of purple everywhere. I love seeing this through the pinetrees. By summer you can't see the forest for the trees around here...houses will be hidden as soon as the leafy trees get all their leaves back. I always wanted to live in a place that was deep in the woods hidden from view :c)

This tree is in my neighbors yard..I hope you can see in the center of the tree amidst the blossoms...there is a nest! I don't know if it is in use or not, but it is such an exciting prospect, don't you think?

I went to walk this morning with the dog, and got maybe 1/3 of a mile down the road and it decided to rain on us, so we ran home. Bummer. I really wanted to spend some time outdoors today. Maybe this afternoon before it gets dark, it will be done with all it's drippiness and we can pound the pavement for a few miles. I like to walk my neighborhood, if I go in and out all the culdesacs, down and around and back in a loop, it is about 3 1/2 miles. Lots of hills too! Right outside my front door!

I went saturday to the quilt show in Charleston. I had read on Siobhan's blog that even SHE was going, and I decided that phooey....Dave could keep jeff grounded, that I needed to go! I got there right about lunch time and met up with the group and went to lunch at this fun middle eastern cafe called Saffron. YUMMY! They also have a bakery with the most delicious desserts you have ever seen. I didn't indulge in dessert, but I did bring home a loaf of walnut, peach, ginger bread. OH MY! I have been having that for toast in the mornings....it is unbelieveably good!

The pic is of a Lori Smith patterened quilt....someone took all the mini quilt tops and stitched them together into one quilt, and quilted it as one quilt...it was so fun to look at!

Bonnie

2006 Tour De Cure

This is a post about one of the two causes I support each year! It's a shameless plug, but it does alot of good, so I hope you will bear with me!

*URGENT!!* Your help and support is greatly needed!

Every year my husband Dave cycles with a group of over 300 riders in South Carolina in the 150 mile 2 day ride called the "Tour De Cure" for diabetes.



There is a pic of Dave here with one of his friends and his bike:

Each mile he will ride, each dollar we will raise will be used in the fight to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.

No matter how small or large, your generous gift will help improve the lives of the more than 18 million Americans who suffer from diabetes, in the hope that future generations can live in a world without this disease. Together, we can all make a difference!

For nearly 10 years I have provided quilt patterns on the Quiltville website free of charge. If you find this site to be beneficial to you as a quilt maker, I ask that you please consider making a pledge to help The American Diabetes Association fight diabetes as a way to say "Thanks!" for all you find here.

If you can spare even $10, please think of someone you know who is living with diabetes daily and all that they go through and all that your donation can do to help. If you know someone with diabetes, PLEASE donate and forward this on to those who have family members with diabetes. Your continued support is necessary to help find a cure for this disease.

Click to Sponsor Dave

Thanks for all you do!

Bonnie

Hunter's Compass

This quilt belongs to Sharon, and it is the first time I have ever seen the hunter's star pattern pieced with compass points included! I think it adds so much to the pattern. The pics were taken without flash to get the quilting to show...so the colors are not so true...

I wasn't sure how to quilt it, but after I got started yesterday, and made it to about 1/2 way...I manged to click my way through the blog ring and also saw that Darcie had just finished quilting a hunter's star quilt too!


One thing I have to ask is why quilters like to insert that little flange flappy border thing? Do they not know it is a nightmare for machine quilters? I could only quilt so far into the corners because I couldn't pin it back out of the way far enough. You have to be careful not to catch it with the needle, or with the whole foot if you are moving the machine across the quilt top...the foot can catch on it, you can stitch yourself into a black hole if you catch it. It's just a pain in the (*&@#*(&! Any other longarmers out there want to comment on the border flanges??? :c/

I am still grounded here at home with son on school suspension that will last until tuesday. We have picked up job applications and hopefully we will be delivering those back out today...the kid needs a job. He has way too much time on his hands and since he can't use it constructively and wisely, he is going to get a JOB. At least this way while he is working I will know where he is and what he is doing, kind of like Teenage Daycare, you know?

I will get through this, I will get through this, I will get through this! AUUGHH!

Bonnie

Leaders & Enders Done!

I finished putting together the most recent leader/ender project....People say I am fast, but it took about a year for me to make all the panels for this quilt from leader/ender squares. Probably MORE than a year! Still, I like how it turned out and it is fun making something on the side while working on other projects.

There are 7 pieced strippy panels and the quilt came out something like 90X93! Almost square but not quite.I still have the binding/sleeve to hand stitch down, so that will be an evening project for a little while.



It's been beautiful here in South Carolina the past couple of days..yesterday was nearly 80f out! Slept with the windows open last night, and that was sure nice....I always sleep better when I can do that. In the summer here it is too humid and hot so the windows stay shut until autumn. I'm enjoying the fresh air through open windows this morning too.

I'm a bit miffed at my son Jeff.....he got suspended from school again yesterday. Just when we have a couple weeks where things seem to be going along swimmingly, something happens. It never fails! So his butt is grounded, his cell phone is turned off, and if I have to go into the clinic for a massage, he has to come along with me. I told him this is NOT a vacation! And it is making my life quite stressful right now. I had planned on making more basket blocks for Elizabeth's teacup quilt yesterday, but I had to deal with conferences at the school, etc....sometimes life just gets in the way, you know?

Bonnie

A view to massage by...

I spent this morning at the massage clinic. Mondays are really slow, but I was there to answer phones and maybe work some walk-ins into my completely empty schedule!

It is also tax time, so I got this bee under my bonnet that if I took DH's lap top to work with me, I could sit there at the front desk and enter all my bank statements into quicken. I got all the way up to December's statement entered in......but when I got to December, it said...page 1 of 2....only there was NO page 2! And since everything I do is on debit card, I had to call the bank and have them send a copy before I can go any farther. Still, I feel pretty proud of myself for getting that far in one day. I figure I would have sat here and spent all day doing it, at least I could have been there and doing it while answering phones and maybe working in a walk in (of which there were none...as I said..monday is a SLOW day!)

I came home and laid down with some purry furries for "just a few minutes" and woke up when the phone rang a bit over an hour later. I was out cold! All that tax work wears on a body, you know? It was the dentist's receptionist on the phone. Remember my birthday 2-for-1 root canal special? Tomorrow is the day I go to get the one crown filled where they did the root canal for it, and get started on the crown work for the one that was the 'bonus' tooth.

These are pics of the clinic where I am working. We are in the corner of an L shaped plaza..there are 4 massage rooms and a reception area, and a big back room that is like the break room with a sofa, microwave, fridge, desk if you want to sit and do paper work, etc....The rooms are hard to get pics of, they are pretty compact! But this will give you an idea of the room I'm sharing with Lori....




Bonnie

Maverick Quilt Sighting!

It's really fun when people know you are on the look out for maverick quilts...I get links sent from everyone! This one was sent by one of our ring loyal reader/lurkers :c)

This maverick medallion quilt is civil war era and was spotted on ebay! I'm not sure if it sold or not, and I don't have the item number, I just saved the pics for my "fun to look at" file! I love how deep the chocolates are, and the bright vibrant double pink...nothing subtle about that!

Don't these quilts just make you wonder about the maker....using all she had to work with, making things fit (or not!!) by making do! I love how the center is so hodge-podge and chaotic, but the setting completely calms it down, like ripples spreading out in a pond....chaos in the middle, organization all the way to the outside edges! It's just a top, not quilted...so I wonder if it has issues of not laying very flat. The fabrics in it are so wonderful!

Bonnie

Leader-Ender Trees!

I've visited a couple blogs that have shown a darling tree that would be great made from leader-ender squares! I've wanted to do a tree quilt for a long time, but the thought of all those 1/2 sq triangles just did not sound appealing to me, no matter how much I liked the look of the trees when they were done.

I looked all over for a tree pattern that would work with my 2" squares....block base had nothing, my old trusty "It's Okay If You Sit On My Quilt" book by Mary Ellen Hopkins had some ideas, and with a few modifications and thanks to EQ5 I have drafted up the scrappy leader-ender tree! Thanks to those other quilters who posted the block in their blogs too...great for inspiration!

If anyone wants the EQ5 file, you can download it here. You do need EQ5 to use this pattern.

The trunk portion of the tree can be easiliy paper pieced if desired, and then the tree top parts added on around the pieces that make the tree trunk section. And I'm thinking that it would be cute using my 1.5" leader ender squares too...then the block would only be 8" finished. Hmmmmm! So many possibilities! If made with the 2" leader ender squares it will finish at 12".

Here is a pic of what a layout might look like. You can also set it without sashings with plain alternate blocks that would give you a great place for quilting designs.

Here is one with plain alternate squares on point:


I've been to Sam's club this morning...why is it that you find yourself running out of laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and cat food all at the same time? All stocked up now, ready to get back to sewing with the new leader-ender project on the side. The strippy bars that were my last leader-ender project are all ready to be set together as soon as I find a lay out I like!

Bonnie

For Laurie Ann....

Laurie Ann sent a comment about the mention of the poodle quilt that I was quilting for a customer. She asked: "Bonnie - could you please post a picture of the poodle quilt? I am making a poodle quilt for our local poodle rescue group and would love to see the one you have."

Ann told me, when she sent the pictures, that the pattern is Judy Mathieson's "Dog Star" from her Mariner's Compass book. And I have to mention that Ann pieced this whole top by HAND...even setting the blocks together and adding the borders...all by hand!

I hope this gives Laurie some ideas. The little printed poodle panels (the black and white outlined poodles) were a Michael Miller fabric panel that is out of print, but you still might be able to search for it on line somewhere.

I had a great time yesterday picking my friend up from her hotel and treating her to dinner at a great mexican place nearby. Then we came over to my house and I showed her my digs and we visted before I took her back to her hotel. It was so great to see her!

Today I'm on call again for the massage clinic....and plan to work on more of Elizabeth's basket blocks! I'm feeling pretty lazy, it's been several long days this week....

Bonnie

Best Laid Plans......

Well, I WAS sewing...but remember I said I was "on call" today in case I was needed at the clinic? They called a bit ago and I have a client at 4pm. Which is going to work really well because I also have a friend who is in the process of driving down from Ohio with her hubby to spend a week on St Simons Island, GA.

I had WANTED to go spend some time with her there and retreat (they have a darling quilt shop on the island) but this position came open at the massage clinic, and you all know where my life has gone...no island retreating for me next week! :c(

That's okay though! I still get to see Kat! Guess where she just called me from?? MARY JO'S in Gastonia, NC! The nerve! Oh, I wish I could have gone shopping with her there, it is such a fun place! But...I am still trying to be good with the purchases, and she will head down through Columbia on her way to St Simons island, and we can meet for dinner after my 4pm client is done! :c)

Here is a pic of the embroidered teacup blocks....all trimmed and sashed, and I have 6 of the basket blocks done. I need 13 total. I think it is coming along really well, and maybe I can work on it some more tomorrow.....(on call for tomorrow too!)

Bonnie

I'm Sewing!!

Oh my goodness...it's friday and I can't honestly tell you where this whole week went! But to give you an idea, I'll give you a run down of my day yesterday....

I left home at 9am to head to the clinic. I stopped at staples to get a file folder, and then made my way over to Northeast Massage Therapy. My 10am client was really great, mother of 3 school-aged kids who just needed a massage and to 'zone out' for a while. I can sure relate!

I didn't have another client scheduled until 6:15, pm...so I left the clinic, came home, stopped on the way to mail a package back to a customer via UPS, and spent the next 4 hours working on another customer quilt, finished that at 5pm, headed back to the massage clinic to meet up with my last client of the day....finished that massage at 7:15, locked up, and went to taco bell with one of the other therapists who had also just finished up for the day...wolfed down a chicken quesadilla, came home, threw myself in the hottub for a soak, and then straight to bed. If there is any wondering on why my blog isn't being updated daily recently, this is why!

However, today is alot lighter. I'm working from home just being 'on call' in case someone needs to call me in.


Every once in a while I get a special client with special requests and today I'm working on one of those! It's lovely! Elizabeth had beautiful embroidered blocks of teacups with flowers in them....and she asked if I would set them into a quilt for her. She sent fabric, and the pattern, and today is the perfect day for me to start sewing the blocks! The embroidered blocks are going to be set with alternate basket blocks made from the fat eigth assortment she sent me....it sure has a spring feel to it and I am so anxious for spring!



I tried to find a pic of the whole quilt online, but I couldn't find the link.

Off to sew basket blocks!
Bonnie

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