It's been sooo long since I posted here, and today isn't the day to show you what I've been doing ... but just to get back in the habit ... here's a photo of my tidied up working thread box. Not to be confused with my boxes of embroidery thread or tubs of serger thread or the two 16 qt bins of the rest of my thread ... this is just my working thread ...

A Girl and Her Horse Mini Quilt

At long last I have sewn something and actually finished it. Bravo for me! I used fabric AND thread!

It is called A Girl and Her Horse.

Wanna see details?

The Girl

   

The Horse

  Everyone Else

The Horse

OK. You don't need to tell me. I know I need to sew a lot more than a mini quilt to get through all this fabric before I'm dead.  BUT ... I've been busy since my last post -- ensuring that I will not be dead too quickly.

We just started a version of  Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat for Life diet. I'm saying a version because the books I ordered haven't arrived. Nonetheless, I'm plugging away and losing weight! 3.5 lbs in four days!

And since I'm not buying fabric ... I'm buying the accouterments to make us healthy. Like the Jack LaLane Juicer.

And a zillion supplements and organic goodies from my new favorite store

Wild by Nature

Well, that's all for today ... see you tomorrow!

Progress and Something Sewn

I've been slacking off again on posting.


Note to self: post if just to say hi to my QB buddies.


Progress is being made. So far I have three shelves full of fabric - and each is two bolts deep.

And I've organized my blank t shirts so I can embroider more of them ...

Shirts on the top row and some completed veils below.

NO. I am not going to show you the horrifying mess that is elsewhere. 

I will concentrate on the tidy bits, such as they are.

I have a looooong way to go.

But has she been sewing, you might ask?

Yes!  I didn't take photos, but I did send some nice dish towels to my SP on the quilt board and made a t shirt for another. 

OK. That's not sewing. How's this?

I made a tote bag with a little snack holder for my dear little friend, Miss Daisy! 

When she gets tired her mama can put her in the bag and carry her. 

I think that is a fine idea. 

Here's Miss Daisy

Not to be confused with my Daisy Mae

Well, that's all for now, except for an awesome photo of my son the chef ...

"Where have you been?" asks a friend. Probably the only person who reads this blog with any consistency besides me ....

Well, I've been slacking off. Sort of.

I made more earrings ... experimenting the thread colors for the seahorse earrings made with a Sonia Showalter design ...
These are very dense and while I would love to stitch them out using glitter thread I think it would be very tough to do without constant thread breakages.





And then I made a bunch of pocket angels for my friend Teresa who is going through a hard time and decided to turn some of them into earrings ... the ones without the fish hooks are also a Sonia Showalter design and I like them very much. Just need to play with making a loop for the top that also looks like a halo.

Got the lock and key lace onto fish hooks and the black hearts as well ...








That runner still isn't done. *SIGH*
OK ... off to fold more fabric.

A Day of Avoidance and Industry - Sort Of

When I left you yesterday, it was my hope to get some veils sewn out for my customers. Nothing tricky. Just the usual stuff. But with all the horrifying "you gotta break some eggs to make an omlette" mess in my studio (and all over) I couldn't find the laces I was looking for. At the edge of hysteria, I gave up. I got a few orders out the door and I guess I'll have to play catch up.

Today I finalized the partners list for the Doll Quilt Swap I coordinate on the Quilting Board. The month of May was Quilty Chaos and most everyone made Crazy Quilts which was rather spectacular. But, I digress.

That done, I decided I needed to clean off some shelves in my studio. There are floor to ceiling shelves on two walls. I don't even want to tell you what was on some of them. But I cleared off one and put the stuff where it should have been in the first place.

Just a small portion of that particular cabinet. The cans are six deep.

Yes. They were in my studio. Don't ask.

OK. You can ask. I'm a bit of a prepper. 

But they're all so nicely organized by classification! 

A couple of other things had to go, too. One of them is a sweet little oil lamp that my friend Miles really liked. He is someone who knows more about oil lamps and kerosene heaters (and a boatload of other stuff, too) than anyone on earth. Visit his website The End Times Report to know more than you want to know.  And then I guess you'll know that birds of a feather ... blah, blah, blah.

OK. Moving right along -- although I don't seem to be doing that at all -- I had some thank you gifts to prepare for my Quilting Board buddies. 

First on the list was Hoppa. He likes skulls. I wanted to make my friends quilting themed t-shirts, but most of them were too girly. Then I found Urban Threads where I spent far too much money on edgy designs. Thank goodness they were having a sale. Whew!  So I made one for Hoppa (aka Jeffrey) and one for Bruce.

How cool are those???

I also stitched out some lace skulls on different types of iridescent organza

Love the way you can see through the eyes and teeth!

Then I stitched out a really neat heart lock and key in black lace. 

They'll go onto a black velvet choker.

And, last but not least. Well, actually they are least because I don't like them much  are some black lace heart earrings stitched out on dark red organza. Not a good choice. Next time, just plain old red lace. 

"Hey! That's not sewing through your fabric!!!" 

Well, it is, sort of. I also want to use all my embroidery designs ... and use up all my thread. And there was organza involved. So there!

"What about that runner  you were going to finish last night?"

Didn't happen. Maybe tonight which I watch the last episode of The Hatfields and the McCoys. Then again, maybe not.

Sometimes you've gotta stop and smell the roses. 

Like this perfect rose my son brought me.

And now, since it's Friday - which means no meat - off we go to get some of my son's incredible fried calamari. Mmmmm. 

Did I mention he's one of the chefs at The Cabana?

Have a good Friday night!

Fabric Organization and My Prize Arrived!

Yesterday the work of getting all my fabric onto bolts began. I've only done a tiny bit so far, but just seeing this much is getting me nervous.

Tonight I will try to finish a hexagon runner for my kitchen drop down shelf -- it's supposed to be used only for canning, but in this house an empty space just seems to be an invitation to clutter.

Just to add to the colossal mess in our dining room / living room, my prize for the Nancy Zeiman Scarf Challenge arrived. Good grief! It's HUGE! Mine is black, but here is a stock photo from the Babylock site.

Well, time to get to work. Have a great day!

*************

Back from lunch with hubby. I had to get him out of the house. He is making plans for some sort of nightmare sliding shelf system for my fabric -- something I do not want and do not need. Please! Someone come and hide his tools and wood!

What a fabulous birthday weekend!

           

Birthday crown, party tooter, frilly scarf were a gift from buddy Sue (QuiltyMom)

I knew what was coming in the days following my 60th ... so ... although I'm embarrassed to say as much ...

My hubby has been on vacation. He took Friday off so we could go to Jones Beach to see the air show rehearsal. Not my cup of tea, but he goes to quilt shows with me, so fair is fair. The day before is usually the best day to go since the parking -- including MILES of illegal parking on the road shoulder -- fills up early. But, sad to say (although not for me) it was rainy and foggy, so no rehearsal.

Oh, what to do with all that lovely spare time? I know! Let's go to Joann! The combination of circumstances was irresistible. Joann was having a Memorial Day sale and I knew that the Red Dot section would be 50% off -- and hubby is a Marine and that meant another 20% off!

Since we were already on Ocean Parkway, we decided to take it out to the West Babylon store. I filled the trunk and back seat of my car -- and I mean FULL -- for a little over $100.

OK, said I. My blog starts on Tuesday and that means a COMPLETE fabric fast. We got home kind of late and my pups, Daisy Mae and Feeney were upset that we were gone for so long, especially Daisy, who is my constant companion through the day. So we went to the dog park at Nickerson Beach.

When we got home it was late - about 8:00 pm. We decided to get some wood oven pizza at this fabulous little shop up the street, Sorrento's It reminds me of the little cafes on Mulberry Street I enjoyed eons ago. But they were done for the night. So, since it was a no meat Friday, plain old pizza for us.

On Saturday morning, we woke up too late to go to the air show. (Oh, what a shame!) So we took our time around the house. Hubby came into my studio to tell me I had a package! I noticed the name of one of my Quilting Board buddies, Brenda. It was a BIG one!

I started laughing hysterically at the card which featured a dirt mouthed dog.

Then I opened it to see that Brenda organized a surprise from a whole bunch of my quilting board buddies.

Wow! There were more wonderful cards ... and a Joann gift card from Brenda.

The idea was to send me 60 FQs for my 60th. But there were well over that many.

I won't post pix of them all, but here is the FIRST layer!

All I can say is that I was FEELING THE LOVE!

After a suitable period of being flummoxed and flustered, I pulled myself together to decide what we were going to do with the rest of the day. My dear enabling hubby spotted the gift card and said, "Let's go to the REALLY far away Joann." (We refer to the Joann Locations as the close Joann -- Westbury -- and the far away Joann -- West Babylon).  I'd never been to the REALLY far away Joann (Centereach - 50 miles away), so we went! Once again, the trunk and back seat were filled to bursting for $130! 


And again I said, "OK. That's it. NO MORE FABRIC!


By then it was about 4:00 pm and we were really hungry. I hadn't even eaten breakfast. There was half of a small bag of cheese crisps in the car, but hubby glommed them down. There wasn't anything interesting around, and besides which I was anxious to get back to the pupsters. We saw a Denny's and neither of us had ever been in one AND there was a 20% discount for senior citizens. Whoo hooo! Starting to like this getting old stuff.


The food wasn't great, but c'est la vie. Then we stopped in the Walmart there. I didn't even THINK about looking for their fabric department. I picked up some cute sun dresses to go with my new hair do and some fun blingy summertime "jewels".  (Later, at the grocery store back home, one of the lithe trust fund babies stopped me to say how much she loooooved my necklace. I demurely replied, "Oh, thank you so very much" and turned to snicker to myself, "Ha! $7 with matching earrings at Walmart!")


Anyway, we got back home ... took the pups to the dog park and I informed my darling hubby that part of his vacation would be spent helping me to organize my fabric. He reluctantly agreed. (Did he have a choice? Personally I think he'd just like to eat at the dining room table again.)


Then I got a text from my friend and neighbor, Diane. "R U interested in fabric and an antique sewing machine?"


ARGHHHH!!!


She sent me the address. 


So off we went on Sunday. I picked up some beautiful embroidery and lace pieces and FOUR huge rolls of ivory silk! $7!!!


Back home with a quick stop at the grocery store for Oxyclean, Borax and vinegar for a little de-stinking treatment. I also wanted to treat some things I picked up a couple of weeks ago, including a 1930s quilt top -- $1.00!!! 


Do you know anyone else who thinks it is wonderful fun to clean and organize fabric? If you're reading this, I suspect it's you.


Now it's dinner time on Sunday. Back we go to the little Italian place for that sought after wood oven pizza. Oh no! The chairs were upended on the tables and it was still early. "We ran out of dough.  You come earlier next time."


On Monday our town has a delightful Memorial Day parade. That afternoon we decided to stroll over to Sorrento's again. Guess what? It was CLOSED!!!


Sorry for the long ramble, but hey, it's MY blog. Today is Wednesday and the work of getting at least some of the fabric wrapped onto mini bolts begins. As I mentioned, if I'm going to sew through all this stuff, I'll have to keep in good shape. Breakfast was Special K, skim milk, 1/4 banana, strawberries and blueberries from my garden and a sprinkle of flax seed meal. (Dr. Oz says its a great diet aid.)

One more thing. yesterday I received a birthday card from my quilting buddy Teresa aka MsCupid804. Inside was a $20 gift card for Joann. ARGHHHH!

OK. That's all for today. Shorter tomorrow and I'll tell you all about how I won the Nancy Zeiman Scarf Design Contest

Oops! I guess I just told you. Ha! Well here's a photo. See you tomorrow!