Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Another rainy day

Once again it is raining here in Des Moines. We just got back from a wonderful walk in the rain and splashing through puddles! I'm not minding the rain but I really needed some sunshine to take some photos today. Ah well, there is always tomorrow and another day of unlisted quilts won't hurt. I'm working on a king size custom quilt today and enjoying the process. And I have another custom quilt that needs more design work...so boredom isn't part of my vocabulary:)

I got my new Fabric Trends magazine yesterday. My fav quilting personality has taken it over ... Mark Lipinski... and as expected, it is wonderfully improved!! I read it from cover to cover and am so excited about all the new fabrics arriving soon. But then I started feeling overwhelmed since I have so very much fabric (one day I'll take pics of my stash so you can truly comprehend what I mean here), what am I going to do with more??!!! But we all know I'll buy it anyway and after some brief guilt, enjoy it thoroughly even if it sits on the shelf for 10 years!! You only get one shot at buying a line of fabric you know:) Rationalization is a skill most of us quilters have mastered:)

Okay, I'm not getting any work done here. Tomorrow, one way or another, there will be 3 more items on my Etsy site. Maybe 4 if I get a binding completed on another table runner. Yeah! Then there will only be about 35 things remaining in my closet to quilt and about 2000 on the shelves awaiting inspiration!! Hehe. What a life!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Life with Cats!




This is what happens when I'm working and I go to answer the phone! Some days as I move from the sewing machine to the cutting table, Cuppy takes over my chair, I toss her off and she goes to the cutting table...then to the chair and so on...heavy sigh:) But they are so cute, aren't they? :)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Shopping:)







Wow...shopping justified! I have a woman who is wanting a custom quilt like another on my site and so I got to go shopping for fabric...and I HAD to buy enough to give her choices, right? I love blues and greens so this was just the excuse I needed to go nuts! Of course I have enough here to make 4 quilts:)
My daughter and I drove to the amana area yesterday with the goal of hitting fern hill gifts and quilts. It was much fun and a great store. This is where Stephanie Brandenburg works/designs...her design area is so tiny but so filled with wonderful inspiration. She wasn't there though I'm sure I'll see her at the big quilt show here in Des moines next month. Darn me though...I forgot there was a second quilt shop in the amanas so didn't get to that one. Oh well...next time.
I have much to do so I'd better get to it!!! First up though...muffins made in a really cute halloween muffin tin we found yesterday. I'll post pics if they turn out as cute as I think they will!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Working, working, working:)

Can I really call what I do work?? I'm not so sure I can...work has such a negative connotation in our society. It's something we complain about, tolerate, wish we didn't have to do...I know, I was in there for a very long time. But now, not so much. I love sewing. Well, I love quilting...yesterday I made my daughter another sleeping bag for her other american girl doll and I must admit I fussed and complained a bit about that. Zippers! ugh! She is happy now though and it is off my list of things to do...and if I do say so myself, it is very very cute:)

Back to quilting. I've always heard people talk about working at what you love. I understood on a logical level but until now I couldn't relate. I had good days when I was a Physical Therapist. There were days when I didn't hate it. But overall, given the choice, I'd have stayed home on any given day. Now I can 'work' all day long and never tire of what I'm doing. I can move from one task to another happily and so far I look forward to all of it. Vacation isn't an escape from work and I cannot wait to return home and sew. I just have to take care not to work too much as I still have a family out there:) Granted, I'm not making the $70K plus I made as a PT, but thankfully I don't have to either. I can build this as long as I choose and have a great time in the process.

Ok, enough on my awesome life! I'm working on getting things quilted! 3 off the last entry are on my site and I'm binding a 4th. There are just not enough hours in a day and I still have so many quilts to finish for customers (I've long-arm quilted for 8 years now). My goal is to get those all completed by the end of september ... kind of a tough goal since my self-proclaimed quilting ADD gets in the way and I'm forced to comply and start a new project regularly:) Then of course there are those quilts I want to make as gifts...there simply isn't enough time for everything swimming around in my head...but I'll get as much done as I can and give myself a break on the rest.

Okay...I'm off to quilt a friend's quilt and get one step closer to returning to my fabric to create something else new:)