More spool pictures . . .

After a long struggle of "everything that can go wrong, did . . . ", I have finally finished this little quilt. Here are more pictures.

We also heard today than my mother's older sister passed away. She was 97 and lived on her own until a year ago. She even drove until she was 95. She lived in a rural part of Montana. She also had a wonderful doll museum that she kept open to the public near her home until a couple years ago as well.. It was in a separate little house with a picket fence. There were dolls everywhere - in every room. She new all of their names and history. My mom (she is 87) is feeling sad about her passing, but realizes she had a wonderful life, but she will miss her as she was like a second mother to Mom. She went through nurses training in the "thirties" and went back to college three decades later so she could teach in a one room country school for several years. She lived her life fully, with happiness, love, and she always had a smile and a good word.

Some good news . . . my Dad is doing better. He is even playing cribbage again!

A good weekend . . .

We had one of the quiet weekends - the kind where you recuperate and get caught up a little. Bob is retiring totally the end of March and we have lots of thoughts - mostly good - about how that will be for us. I know he has lots of things he wants to do and we are heading for Florida for a couple weeks the last part of March to meet up with our friends from Maine and enjoy.

I am so slow, but I keep on keeping on. I finished the work on the borders of the quilt spools quilt. Here is a picture I took just before I took it off the table. I am not thrilled with it, but I need to learn that thrilling me might not be the total evaluation of whether or not it is okay. Everything that could keep going wrong did and finally I sewed through my finger. I have never understood how that happens - I still don't, but I now am a believer.

Also - I took a jab at my first experience at design with combining patterns on Hoke (my IQ) through the split, copy, move, flip, adjust, combine commands that are so easy to use. It could be very addicting. I stayed up way too late on Saturday night (Sunday morning?) and it was so much fun. I am going to try some other things later this week I hope.

I think I solved my main problem . . .

Here is the quilt I am now working on. It is batik and the owner is a very good piecer and also very precise about her work and outcome expectations. I have been concerned about doing her quilts - she brought me three - all beautifully pieced and the designs and colors are wonderful. She is also very visible in our local quilting world. So - I decided to bury threads for her quilt to help me get over the hump of being scared. It worked. I hate the look of starts and stops when they show and I know if the back is busy, they really rarely show. The back on this quilt, however, is a batik with large areas of plain fabric - everyone would be showing. This is the first time I have received a back that has the edges stitched a quarter of an inch in all the way around - is that common in other areas? Of course it is perfectly squared (nice!) and perfectly sized (also nice!) I envisioned the owner turning the quilt over and looking at the stops and starts on the back in shock - kind of like when someone runs a finger over a dusty area in disbelief. Now I don't know if that would really happen, but the thought of it took me to my knees. I would not want her to be disappointed in any way. I can't believe how free I feel now. It takes more time, but to get my confidence back, the time is a small price to pay. I will post more pictures when I get done with this.

Tomorrow we are going to start our guild interviews of the local quilt shops. There are 8 shops in the area that have supported the guild to some extent in the past and we will do the first one tomorrow. The "we" is another one of the new guild officers and myself. It should be interesting.

Preparing . . .

I am a the "new" program person for our local quilt guild. The guild started about five years ago and has suffered from some strong personality collisions. So this fall, no one came forward, even with coaxing to take on any of the offices. At the last minute, just before "folding" I agreed to do the program part. Several others also agreed to take an office.

Our first meeting with new officers is next Tuesday and we are working hard to get a fresh start. There was nothing previously planned for the program for this meeting so we going to show a couple tools - one brand new and one older one. We are going to do this as a way to model a new segment called "Tips and Tools" in hopes that we can get others to come forward to do some sharing once in a while. We are also going to take a short amount of time to go over what we have planned for classes and programs.

I worked with my camcorder, computer, and projector to get comfy projecting live video so we can show the group an "up close" view of what is being shared just like at the conferences. I do have a tripod that I will use as well. It was a fun afternoon of getting it to all work together and making it work easily.

I am going to share the "pineapple tool designed and sold by The Great American Quilt Factory in Denver. Ronda Beyer recommended this to me a year ago and I have been having fun learning how to use it. It is an older tool that has been around for a while but I love it! The book is not necessary as they have instructions on their website, but the book has great quilt ideas for using pineapple blocks.
These blocks are some I will use in the demo on Tuesday evening. I am going to have a few more in various stages of being done so they can easily see how quickly the these blocks go together. We are planning to have a "hands-on" time "after hours" if members want to stay and try it themselves. I will have strips cut and ready to go for a few samples and take my little Janome Platinum for those who must give it a try.

Our other tool to be shared will be the new tool to make quick and easy prairie points. It is the Quick Points Ruler. I will get pictures of it and share later. Barb Cribb is the new guild president and she will show how to use the ruler. Barb is also the owner and designer of the Wild Thymes Pattern Company. She designs beautiful felted wool quilts and dyes all of her own fabric for the samples and kits.

More thinking . . .

I have thought more and more about my quilting block. I have worked to isolate the issue with me. I enjoy doing quilts for people who enjoy making quilts and are relaxed about their work. I do not enjoy doing quilts for some who are uptight and/or perfectionists. So, I have designed some guidelines to follow from here forward:

1. I do not want to do any quilts for display at our local shops. I will do quilts that are created to be used and enjoyed. If the quilter is stressed, then I get stressed and it all goes in the dump.

2. I will focus my business on "all overs" or those with just a simple separate, border treatment so that Hoke and I can work together. I enjoy doing nice borders and I love having Hoke do the rest. Customers who want something else can select any number of excellent quilters in our area.

3. I will do custom work only for existing customers with whom I have harmonious connection. All other custom work or art quilting will be on my quilts only.

4. I will take in only enough quilts for two weeks of work a month. The other two weeks are for me.

Now that sounds pretty darn good! I will look forward to getting past the next 4 I have on the schedule that do not meet these requirements. The rest on my schedule will be fun to do and I am looking forward to the work. I just need to get past the next 4. I think I can do that. . . I think I can.

Something has got to give . . .

First - I don't want you to think I am whining here - just stating what seems to me to be an obvious fact.

I have had my quilting machine for almost 4 years. I did take a whole year off from quilting so I will take that into consideration, but I am getting worse and worse. Oh, technically, I am better. But the design choices and thread choices I am making are awful! Here are three of the last quilts I finished. I think it is the pressure of putting someone else's quilt on the machine. As soon as that happens, I stress, make weird decisions and the results are not good.

Before I went off to joust with college students last year in Laramie, I had decided to not take in any more customer quilts - just do my own. But then I wanted to get my IQ so I thought I would try again. It is not any better this time around. I do not like working on other people's quilts! It is plain and simple. I am just not that good at quilting other people's quilts. I am not equipped to do it! And I am not unhappy that I have realized this - I am quite relieved.

So - unless people want an all over or E2E that Hoke can do (IQ), I am not taking in any more after I finish my existing lineup. I love having Hoke (he drives my Miss Daisy, A1). I thought it was confidence, but I have been at this long enough that I should have built up enough confidence. It feels like as soon as I have someone elses quilt on the machine, I become a different person - all whacked out with worry and my artistic decisions fall in the dump. And the worst part is I actually go ahead and quilt those whacked out decisions.

Whatever it is - life is too short!. I am going to do my own stuff from here on! Life is just too short, especially when I am already in my third act. I can't waste anymore time worrying about being a "quilting for hire" failure. I am over it! I will go find a job as a greeter at WalMart and work on my own quilts.

Hope you have a good day. I know I feel much better!

Welcome to 2009!

Happy New Year!

It is time for me to get started again. We have had a wonderful holiday season and today, New Year's Day, is a great way to bring it all to a close with the promise of the new journey in 2009. We watched the Rose Parade this morning - beautiful weather and gorgeous floats.

We have had lots and lots of snow and cold weather in December here in southwest Montana as has everyone all over. Christmas was spent with our son, Stan, his wife, Rainy and - of course, Weston here in Bozeman. We then drove to Missoula in a snowstorm to celebrate more and help my Dad enjoy his 90th birthday on the 26th. Our son, Roy, and his family from Portland, were not able to join us as you know how much snow Portland had during those Christmas days.

Here is a picture of two of "my boys" tasting one of the batches of sugar cookies on Christmas Eve day. The cookies were a hit. We ended up making several batches and worked to find "the best ever" recipe. Any excuse will do!

Have a wonderful New Year's Day and a blessed 2009.