Deep Breathing

"You will soon change your present line of work" - Panda Express

Do they know something I don't know? Or does the fortune cookie reflect the upcoming culmination of the past 6 months of effort? Come May, I will not be working on the quilt show. Come to think of it, I've only been working with the quilt show for 6 months, and we're having a show in 2 weeks. No wonder my nerves are getting a bit ragged.

Yesterday this beautiful bouquet arrived on my doorstep, along with the instructions to "take a breath." No, they weren't from my husband, they were from a friend who picked up on the possibility that I was having a bit of a panic. Inhale, exhale. All better now.


Yesterday (or was it the day before?), Charlie wanted to help with my early morning Daily. Charlie, you're a love, but you're not much help, you know? I could probably learn a lot from watching Charlie. That cat is filled with peace and joy like no cat you've ever met. It's all about food and napping and "Love me! You know you love me!" His needs are simple and he enjoys everything.

Taking a cue from Pat and Charlie, I thought it would be a good idea to stop and smell the roses. Or at least I could stop and take some pictures of the pretties in my garden.

This beautiful azalea came with the house. I completely ignore it. The only attention it ever gets is that I whack it back when it encroaches on the porch. It seems to like it there, and hey, it's looking very pretty today.

I always think of geraniums as a summer bloomer, but these look like they're pretty happy already. Bloom, babies, bloom!

Next up is this darling miniature rose. If I remember correctly, it's called "Rainbow's End." Elaine gave it to me in a 4" pot. It's now so large Pete is threatening to dig it up and move it. It's blocking a sprinkler. There are dozens of buds on this bush, in the next few weeks it's going to become a riot of color.

The irises are also beginning to bloom. I haven't been as enthralled by them this year, probably because they are so stressed. Any blooms are welcome blooms, and I should probably go out and give them a pep talk. I don't want them to give up and not bloom at all!!

The Calla lilies are also starting to bloom, just in time for Easter. I had only noticed one, in the backyard, but when I look around, I've actually got quite a number of them. yay.

Here's another geranium, and another iris, (and the neighbor's driveway).

Here's another iris, and some Dutch iris...

More Dutch iris, and geraniums (that's a single bush), surrounding the mailbox...


I really enjoy doing a plant by plant walk-through, because if you look at the whole picture, the flowers get completely lost.

The big "tree" in front of the house is actually a Rose of Sharon. It won't be long before it pops out some buds and starts drawing the hummingbirds. I always love to hear them peep and bicker as they flit from bloom to bloom.

The dirt under the sago palm is starting to fill in with dianthus and johnny jump-ups. They are so cute! I love their cheery little faces!

In the backyard, we've got another color of iris in bloom.


And finally, I guess I studied well. Charlie also came out to smell the flowers. I'm not sure if orchids smell, but then, Charlie's never been terribly bright...But he certainly is happy!!!

There now. After that garden tour, don't you feel much more relaxed? I know I do!!!

Which reminds me.

As I was waiting for my computer to finish scanning this morning (it refuses to allow me to work in Word while it is scanning), I started surfing around the internet. I can't even remember why I thought of the Quilter's Hall of Fame, perhaps it was the walk through the garden. I've had a few quilts in their shows, and I wondered if they were having a show this year.

They're actually having a challenge, and I think that perhaps I'd like to participate in this one. The theme is SO much to my liking, I can hardly resist. I almost want to run back to my sewing room and start pulling fabrics. But I won't. At least not until May. Or I might pull fabrics, but I won't cut or sew anything until after April 20. Or...

yeah. I have no question as to why I have so many UFO's, and why some things just don't get done. sigh.

Gwen says, "Your April Step should be 'have a quilt show!' " You know? She might just have something there...

Under Control

When I tell you that everything is organized, my paperwork is almost done, and everything is under control, do you believe me?

If I show you my computer desk, and you see the pink BOTV stuff and my notes stuck here and there, hither and yon, you don't question my administrative abilities, do you?

What if I show you my "office"? Do you still believe me?

I've been typing and sorting and emailing and filing since about 8:30 this morning. The clutter on both desks is half what it was. I've even squeezed in a telephone interview. My goal - goals are good - is to have the room cleaned and organized enough to vacuum by dinnertime. If I meet that goal, I'll definitely make a photographic record of the event.

I know I promised a listing of my April Step, but the only thing I've done today in the sewing room is iron the shirts and hang some laundry. I was taking a break from the computer. Maybe tomorrow. My April Step might just be getting through April.

But for now, I'll continue to work my way through my lists and stacks of stuff, trying to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks. And I sit here with one ear cocked...according to the UPS website, the Hoffman Challenge trunk of wearables, has been "on truck for delivery" since 8am. I guess that 81 pounds of quiltiness is going to be the last thing delivered this evening. But I'll be here. That's what this Thursday is for.

P.S.

I was so focused on missing my March Step I forgot to ask:

Did anyone besides Brenda meet your March goal? Please let me know, so I can get something in the mail to you...

Thedaysarerunningtogether

Today I told one of my committee members that "2 weeks from now, we'll be taking in quilts." umm. Suzanne, you are so confused! Two weeks from MONDAY we take in quilts. Monday was two days ago!! It's all turning into a giant blur. Ready or not, here it comes.

For the past three days I've been sitting at the computer doing all kinds of wonderful things. We've got badges for our participants, we've got badges for all kinds of people. But I ran out of white card stock, so I'm short badges for the judges and the appraiser. Can you believe that Michael's is also out of white cardstock?

This morning I put the finishing touches on a sign board that I took to the International Agri-center. This is where the show was held for the past 8 years. They were more than happy to accommodate our sign board, until a piece ran in the paper last week.


sigh.

I'd totally missed the part of the article that infuriated them...I was too busy trying to figure out how we're going to accommodate the "6,000 attendees" mentioned in the article. 6000? Was it really 6000? And here I am, stressing about whether to print 750 or 1000 programs...We're hoping that our show-goers will recycle them if they don't want to keep a copy.

The programs are actually a pale pink, but the lighting is not so good in my cave. And the printing won't be blurry - I'd just washed my hands, and I guess they weren't completely dry when I grabbed the program for the photo.

I've been running around town, getting price quotes. wow. They vary a LOT. So far the best quote is from ColorSpot, coming in at half what Kinkos would charge. They're $200 less than Office Depot, which was the previous low bid. Staples was in between the two. Wow. I guess not having to pay the overhead for a mega-store works to the customer's benefit! I have one more bid coming in tomorrow morning. I'll be here. One of the Hoffman Challenge collections is scheduled to arrive. I don't want to miss it.

So yeah, it's all quilt show, all the time.

I failed miserably at my March Step. I think I looked at it once. That's as far as I got.

I needed a sanity break over the weekend, so I turned to a few hours of mindless sewing. I now have another 4-patch quilt top in the pile, ready and waiting for the next little girl to welcome to the world.

Word is spreading and reality is sinking in. The first quilt for the show arrived on Saturday, and it's going to pick up speed from here on out. If you don't see any posting during these first three weeks of April, I apologize. It's all I can do to keep my head above water.

And my April Step? I should probably identify an April Step. But not today. I can't even think about it right now. Obviously my choice for March was a poor one. Nothing could get me to sew it up and get it off the wall.

oh well.

Does that mean I fell off the wagon? ;)

I'll try to do better this month. Maybe I'll quilt something small. I'll try to post tomorrow. I should be home ALL day, so there should be a moment to spare. yep. Goals are good.

Trading Places

Another son has come and gone. zoom! zoom! He was in and out so quickly, it's a good thing I didn't blink. I would have missed him.

Actually, he stayed longer than his brother.

But, there are places to go and people to meet, and there's just so much you can do at home with mom. Mom is pretty happy that she made "the list." :) I could have not made the list, then I'd really be pouting!

Adam is my joy boy, and he always seems to be in a good mood. or asleep. ;)

Here he is, sitting in my sewing room, modeling his "Dodgeball Jesus" t-shirt. I specifically asked for a picture. He's active in College Life up at Davis, and the guys put together a dodgeball team. (And no, this dodgeball is NOT like the dodgeball we played in elementary school back in the 60's. It's a tad more aggressive...)

I think they just wanted the opposition to know Who is on their side. ;)

You may have noticed the mustache. yeah. November was dubbed "Novembeard," and "they" all grew beards. March is now "Mustache March." Adam always likes to participate, with gusto. Is it me? Or does he remind you of Rick Simon from the 80's show Simon & Simon?


You also may have noticed that he's sitting in my cute little red car. I know, many of you would argue that point. An Expedition is not a "little" car. But it is little compared to the alternative. Adam drove away in my car, leaving me with the alternative...

yep. Check out this beauty. In the 90's, it was my dream vehicle. I could seat all the kids without their touching one another. Not only could I haul them, but I could also fit their friends and haul all of their stuff as well.


Why did we trade? Why to haul stuff, of course!! This is my new vehicle, and I am so thankful to have it. I might just be able to get ALL of the stuff out of my garage and over to the quilt show premises in one load. or two. It will definitely be fewer loads than it would have been, had I only my little red car to work with.

And yes, my garage is still bea-u-ti-ful and pristine...but I can't get the van in because some of the boxes on the top shelf overhang. oh well. It was fun to park in it while I could...

P.S. ding dong!!! It's FedEx. The first quilt for the show was just delivered!! ohmygoodness, we're having a quilt show!!!!

Something's Happening!

I hate days like this, when I expose myself to the world. But without seeing what I'm working with, how can you understand the enormity of this undertaking? You can't. And so, I must take pictures. Brutally honest pictures. You'll still love me, right? Even though my mess is out of control and I can't seem to help myself?

Earlier this week I mentioned my brainstorm. I'd been toying with the idea of getting the new Bernina 820, but would have absolutely no place to put it. Pete had laughingly said I could take over another room, but I've already taken over another room, for the quilt show!

I want to learn to live within my given (appropriated) space, without continuing to ooze into the rest of the house. Other people are organized. Other people have "studios." I don't. I've told you, I have a "dump." Because I dump and run and dump and run, I can't even get down to work without spending an hour or more uncovering a sewing surface. It is unacceptable. I like order, I don't enjoy chaos.

And so, dear friends, I met with a carpenter yesterday. He thinks he can help me, the brave soul. What I didn't tell him was that I spent about 2 hours cleaning the mess before he arrived, so that he could actually get into the room. He still had trouble reaching the walls, when it came time to measure.

So. Here's the plan.

This piece of furniture currently houses about one third to one half of my stash. It is poorly built, but it performs the exact function I need. It keeps my stash clean and organized and right in front of me. I can see it, it inspires me, and it stays relatively dust free, as long as I remember to slide the doors closed!

Mr. Carpenter is going to build two of these units for me, with the sliding glass doors. They will be free-standing (not permanent), because if we ever move, I'm planning to take them with me! They stand about 6' tall, and have plenty of room on top for me to display baskets and to stash works in progress. I might even be able to get the remainder of my stash out of my bedroom! Wouldn't that be something?!! (I'm currently trying to sew my way out of the things in my bedroom. It's been taking a while!)

On the opposite wall, I've got the window and my sewing table. You don't even want to know what's crammed to the right of the table. There's a chest and an old Singer and a Stickley table, and stacks of quilts, and my old photographs, and my embroidery machine, and...you get the general idea.

It's all piled so high I can't get to any of it, other than the few things on top of the little table. Imagine, if you will, all of these things GONE. The plan is for a cupboard, with doors, to fill the space between the window and the wall, coming out almost to the edge of my design wall.

I want the same thing to the left of the table. Here I've got a changing table with a director's chair in front of it. Yeah, I know. You're saying table? chair? You've got to be kidding me. All I see is a pile of piles! I know. I'm pathetic. That's why these cupboards will have doors on them. I DON'T want to be able to see my collection of tools. I want them to be hidden away but easily accessed.

Finally, he's going to build me a custom sewing table. The table that I currently have has been uncomfortable since the day I brought it home. For one, it's too low. I've got it on bed lifts so that my back doesn't ache after sitting at it. One of the legs is in the way of my leg, so I always have to sit to the side. It's bad for me, but good for my chiropractor. I visit him monthly. The back half of the space under the table is inaccessible. Mr. Carpenter says that he can build in drawers that actually extend, along with pull-out shelving. oooh! I LOVE pull-out shelving! It makes me sing!

The only thing that I'm not thrilled about is that we're going to top it with Formica. But I don't know what else to do about that. I need a slick surface to eliminate drag when I'm machine quilting. He mentioned Corian, but that stuff weighs a ton. I think Formica will be just fine.

And there you go, my dream plans. They're all about storage. :)

It's going to be a while before we get started. He's busy and I'm busy. I told him that I can focus on it or think about it after April 20. That works in with his schedule and it makes me smile. I truly hope that I'll be able to get organized. I've dreamed of this for YEARS, and it might actually become reality. You got it. I'll keep you posted!!!

I KNEW it was Edgar!!

This post is not for the squeamish or for the fans of mice. Instead, it is a shout out to my kitty, for a job well done.

For the most part, my cats are lazy. Catnap? Areyoukiddingme? These guys sleep from 9-4:30 every single day. Malcolm is the exception, since he sleeps all night as well. But Charlie and Edgar? It's either sleep or eat...or eat or sleep. I took these pictures less than 5 minutes ago.

Yes, Malcolm and Charlie spotted the clean laundry. It's their job to cover it with cat hair.


I'd just let Edgar out. He was early for dinner. He wasn't out there for more than 10 minutes, in fact I'd say he was only outside for 5 minutes. But it was long enough. That mouse is HISTORY!!!

Yay, Edgar!!! Hip hip hooray!!! You're my hero!!!

It doesn't take much to make my day, does it?

The day started at 5:30am, and the internet went down at 5:45am. I spent more than an hour on the phone with AT&T,split between 2 phone calls. They finally decided that yes, maybe they were the problem. I was back online by 1pm. yay.

My quilting news is that I have a carpenter coming by tomorrow to look at my sewing room. He specializes in cabinetry. I've told him that I'd like a NICE sewing table, and enough storage to hold my fabric and make my room look ORGANIZED. Hopefully he'll have ideas and suggestions as to the best use of the space, considering the ridiculous quantity of stuff that needs a home.

I'll keep you posted.

Spinning My Wheels

I know, I know, I've been terrible lately when it comes to blogging. It's not that I don't want to blog, it's just that I don't have much to blog about. Do you want to read about the letters I wrote and mailed today? Or the newspapers that I've been trying to contact? I didn't think so. It's still all quilt show, all the time around here, whether I'm working on it or not.

I am not getting any quilting done - oh wait. I lied. Yesterday our power was out for 10 hours. When the sun went down, I went over to Thimble Towne and handquilted for an hour. The power had been predicted to come back on at 7:30pm. I got home at 7:54pm, and the clocks were blinking (yay!) "12:04." The power had been back on for 4 minutes. But I did get in an hour of hand-quilting. double yay.

Despite my lack of actually quilting, I've been seriously thinking about quilting. I examined the new Bernina 820, which is the mega-machine that reminds me of a Hummer. The huge space under the arm is quite desirable, and my husband said, "If you really want it, you should get it." hmmm.

I've been wandering around the house, creating various scenarios, wondering if I could put it here or there. What I eventually realized was that there is something that I would truly appreciate much more than some fancy-pants sewing machine, even if it DOES have a to-die-for arm. That something would be storage for my sewing room.

I could spend the same amount of money to get organized. Custom cabinetry would REALLY be something that makes my life easier. I've got a call in to a carpenter, we'll see if he calls me back.

In the meantime, the ranunculuses continue to bloom, and I cheer up every time I see them. (As if I'm not already cheery before I see them.)

Not only are the flowers blooming, but "the little boys" are on vacation this week. It's Spring Break for UC Davis. Daniel came by for a brief visit, and he definitely put a smile on my face.

I have to say that the scary thing about the next picture is how much I look like my grandmother. ohmygosh!!! Not only has my mother's face replaced my face in the mirror, but now my profile has been replaced by my grandmother's!!

Time does a number on one's ego, that's for sure!!!

And on that, I'll sign off. I still have plenty of things to do today, but I am glad to be able to say that I've at least touched base with y'all. Hope you are spending some quality time quilting, and I wish I were able to join you!!

Ta Da!!!

Yesterday we had our final quilt show painting party. woohoo!! The sandwich boards are ready and waiting for placement. Well, almost. Some white touch-up work still needs to be done. I'm saving that for Monday, when SCE tells me I'll be without power from 8am-4pm. I can hardly wait.

In the meantime, here's the current state of my patio:


We didn't have enough stencils for everyone to be painting, so I set some of the crew to work sorting and bundling PVC pipe. They stayed for hours, and I worked a bit longer after they left. Can you believe it? I can see concrete. In the garage!

Not only that, but after I wrapped the middle pile with blue tarp, I was able to pull in for the first time in MONTHS.


Pete says that I can have the quilters come over any time. In fact, the more the better! :) Thank you Sue, Linda, Jean, Barbara and Nancy, for all your help! You know I wouldn't have done it without you!!!

Keeping Busy

Wow. When I tell you that when I got back from Asilomar I hit the ground running, I'm not joking. I have been ridiculously busy. Hopefully everything that needs to get done is getting done. No guarantees on that, though, because I've barely had time to catch my breath. Sorry about the lack of posting...when there's too much to be done, something's gotta give. And without pictures, who wants to read my whine?

We had a quilt show meeting on Monday, it was the last one before the show. Yikes. That means it's going to be here faster than I realize!

On Tuesday, we painted the old signs with white. Tomorrow we break out the red spray paint.


I've had some quilts for hire waiting for my attention. I told their owners they couldn't be in a hurry. I've finally finished one of them. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Another baby made her way into the world, so I needed to make some labels. I also wanted to label the quilts that just got back from M-AQF. I love setting the machine to stitch, while I work on the other one.


Here's a close-up of the machine in action.


And here are the labels, waiting for me to sew them on this evening.

Finally, I saw the strangest thing today. At first I thought it was some sort of mating dance, but after watching for a while, I changed my mind. These butterflies were doing battle. Only one still had his wings intact, the other two were being shredded. They were flying lower and lower to the ground, exhausting themselves.

This first is a picture of two of them. Click to make it bigger.


Here is the one with the worst wings, trying desperately to escape the other two.


They were doing crazy maneuvers, it looked choreographed.


Here you can see another attack.


And here they are again.

I was glad the kitties were in the house, because they certainly would have found these fellows to be great fun. They wouldn't have eaten them, but they definitely would have done them in!

And that's all I've got. I hope you enjoyed it!

It's Springing!!

Wow. Go away for a week, and the flowers have a party! I love the new discoveries every day in the garden. How about this ranunculus, which has been here for 4 or 5 years. Every year it's grander than the year before.

Or the Monkey Flower. I know, it's leggy, and it looks like a weed. But when you look at the cute little yellow flowers, don't you just want to hug them? They're happy little things, from the tips of the leaves to the bottom of their little red freckles.

Even the Rose of Sharon is putting on new Spring foliage. Look at those little green leaves, just bursting out all over!


**the remainder of this post has been deleted, due to copyright issues. oops!

Yes and Yes and Welcome Home

I've been trying to play catch-up after being gone for a week. I'm almost done going through the mail. woohoo! I received a large envelope from Sacred Threads (large is always good), containing two acceptance letters. Both "Psalm 46:10 Be Still" and "The Light Shines in the Darkness" will be heading to Reynoldsburg, Ohio in June. I'm going to have to check my calendar and see what else June holds!

I was also relieved to know that "Cascading Crystal Kaweah" came home on Thursday. I was beginning to get anxious about that one - I'd hoped it would be home a week ago. The judges' comments were encouraging, they referred to it as a "bead-o-rama." ;)

Finally, "Encompassing Tradition" arrived last night. Welcome home, baby, you're looking good!